4.20.2009

The day after viewing the cherry blossoms, we headed out to the new annex of the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. I don't know how many hours we spent there. The boys had to be peeled away, and our hostesses, Lexi and Michaela, were so patient with us.

I personally preferred this museum to the one downtown. It's just so BIG. Big planes.

And big space shuttle! We spent about half our time in the space area. At least, the boys did. I spent all my time chasing Ayla, who (remember) was done with the stroller. But she wasn't done with other people's strollers. Ooooh, no, she was not. She really wanted to get into everyone else's stroller. And she also wanted everyone else's sippy cups and snacks. I spent a lot of my time smiling apologetically as I picked her up and away from other people. Come on, Ayla, that's not for you. Giggle, giggle.

Dunagan was smitten with the Blackbird, fastest plane ever. There was and is no faster plane, and he will gladly tell you all about it.

They had several flight simulators. Both boys 'flew' a Wright flier. It was really very difficult! Then Evan and Dunagan went in one simulator that went through several different planes, and Kirven and I rode a space shuttle. In hindsight, the boys both enjoyed it, but I think they were both a little stunned by the experience at first.

And this is where it happened. This is where we had our backpack 'stolen'. About this time, we all met back up and headed out for home. When we got to the car, we realized there was no backpack. What a sinking feeling. Of course, it had our camera, my wallet with all my ID (how was I going to get back on the plane home, we wondered), and all of our cash. Evan headed back in, searched and searched, asked and asked, but no backpack. We were sure that it had been left at the simulators, and someone had walked off with it. We started closing all our financial accounts. We didn't let the 'stolen' backpack issue railroad the rest of our visit, but it was definitely in the back of our minds the rest of the time.

But, happily, long story short, our backpack was found! It had been left in a classroom where the Wright Flier was. Shortly after the boys had done the simulator in there, they had closed up the exhibit, and it ended up being locked up safe and tight all weekend. We had to do a bit of footwork in order to get it back, but we did, camera, id, cash and all!! Man, what a relief. I'm sure you can imagine.

We just ended up with new credit cards, etc. I was worried that it was going to be a huge hassle. It would have been a lot bigger if we hadn't gotten my wallet back! I was so groaning about having to go get another driver's license.